… The winners of the hackathon dedicated to climate change “Climathon – green, smart municipalities” offer solutions to the problems of Latvian cities. In Hakaton “Climathon – green, smart municipalities”, where 14 interdisciplinary teams looked for solutions to the challenges offered by Latvian municipalities, the Mademoselle team’s offer to reduce waste and promote the circular economy in Ventspils was recognized as the best. The hackaton “Climathon” in Latvia, developed by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Climate-KIC climate knowledge and innovation community, is organized by the Design Factory of Riga Technical University (RTU).
In order to promote Latvia’s progress towards achieving the priorities of the European Green Course from October 8 to 10, 49 participants, students and professionals from various fields developed solutions in Liepaja, Valmiera, Gulbene, Smiltene, Ventspils, Kuldiga and Cesis in the climathon Climathon challenges offered by local governments. The event took place in a hybrid version – in person at the Green and Smart Technology Cluster premises in Liepaja and online.
The first place and 1200 euros for further development of the idea was won by the team «Mademoselle» (Madara Kalniņa, Elza Timermane, Antra Viļuma, Silva Sējēja, Agate Meldere), responding to the challenge of Ventspils municipality to increase the involvement of residents in promoting waste generation, sorting and recycling. Its offer includes not only the creation of a special point for the transfer and sorting of unnecessary items, but also practical and creative activities aimed at reusing seemingly worn-out household items, giving them new value. The authors of the idea of an innovative intelligent ventilation system won the second place in the hackathon, solving the challenge of Liepaja to provide cooling and the desired microclimate in historical public buildings. In third place were the participants who, within 48 hours, created a climate change modeling tool that would allow to predict the impact of climate change consequences – floods, rainfall, drought – in Valmiera municipality in the future. At the end of the hatchback, a special prize of 1,500 euros was awarded to develop the idea of a set of creative measures to improve the composting system in the old town of Cēsis. The prize fund was provided by EIT Food, Liepāja, Valmiera, Gulbene and Smiltene municipalities.
Solutions developed in Hakaton “Climathon – green, smart municipalities” were evaluated by a jury of experts consisting of Salvis Roga, Member of the Board of the Green and Smart Technologies Cluster and Kurzeme Business Incubator, Ilze Eglāja, Head of Valmiera Development Agency, Environmental Quality and Waste Management Division of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Natalija Cudečka-Puriņa, Head of the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Interdepartmental Coordination Center Sanita Kalnača, Alina Dolmate, Head of the EIT Latvia Contact Point and Alise Pizika, Head of the EIT Climate-KIC Latvia Climate-KIC Latvia.
Hakaton has been organized for several years by RTU Design Factory, which also acts as the EIT co-creation contact point «EIT Climate-KIC Hub Latvia», in cooperation with the European Commission Representation in Latvia and Valmiera Development Agency, Green and Smart Technologies Cluster and EIT Food Hub Latvia.
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